Message from the Student SIG and the University of Delaware Students
This past fall has been a busy time for the UD physical therapy students. We conducted a number of various fundraising efforts to benefit the Foundation for Physical Therapy. To date we have raised just over $11,000 this year for the Foundation, which will put us in the Philanthropy Circle. This is a group of select schools that have made a lifetime contribution of over $50,000 to the Foundation. Our students have been very creative in finding ways to raise money. Fundraisers included “Rent-a-PT Student” where students performed various yard/house work in return for a donation; fundraiser nights at local restaurants including Panera, Klondike Kate’s and the UD creamery where a portion of the proceeds benefited the Foundation; pizza/donut sales at the STAR building and jewelry sales. By far our most successful and ambitious fundraiser this Fall was our first annual Family Fun Day. This was a weekend event for families in the community to come to our STAR building for a day of games/activities, food, a silent auction, tours, and a whole lot of fun! The UD physical therapy classes of 2015 and 2016 would like to sincerely thank all of our supports this past year. None of this would be possible without you. Most of all we would like to thank Dr. Tepper and his wife Linda for their generous donation to our fundraising efforts.
Fundraising efforts coming this spring and summer will include two CEU courses. The first will be our annual Clinical Instructor (CI) CEU course for clinicians seeking to be CI’s for students on clinical affiliations. This will be a Fri/Sat weekend course held in mid-March at the STAR building in Newark. The second CEU course is titled, “Application of Clinical Anatomy: Let Palpation Drive Your Clinical Examination” to be taught by UD professors, Dr. Sions and Dr. Zeni. This course will provide healthcare providers with the ability to conduct thorough palpation examinations of the upper extremity, spine, and lower extremity that will enable patient diagnosis, determination of the need for additional diagnostic testing, and generation of a treatment plan. The two-day weekend course is tentatively scheduled for late July/early August of 2015. More information to come. For any inquiries please contact Nick Rech () or Nick Milton ().
In other activities this fall, Lisa Ciritella, a Graduate and Professional Sector Representative for Fedloan Servicing, gave a talk to UDPT students titled, “What to Know Before You Go: A Roadmap to Successful Loan Repayment.” Her talk was very beneficial for students to keep us informed about loan repayment after graduation, as the average UD physical therapy student will graduate with somewhere around $100,000 in student loans. Another speaker this spring is being planned to cover general financial planning.
A group of UD physical therapy students recently spoke with the undergraduate physical therapy interest club on campus. The current students were there to answer questions and give the undergraduate students an idea of what a day in the life of a physical therapy student is like.
This January we are hoping to provide a fun night of Broomball and food in an effort to connect the PTA and PT students of Delaware. Our hope is that through this relaxing atmosphere, students will be more effectively equipped to network, establishing relationships with peers to enhance communication, ultimately uniting the body of Delaware physical therapy students.
Also, on January 24th we will hold out annual “Magic in Motion” event for the Girl Scouts at the STAR building. This is an interactive day for physical therapy students and local Girl Scout troops. The scouts go through various stations where UDPT and Del Tech PTA students teach the girls about physical therapy, how their heart and lungs work during exercise, how muscles work and how to handle stress. The day concludes with a panel of physical therapists and PT/PTA students to field any questions from the Girl Scouts about health and physical therapy.
Finally, the PT students are considering a spring semester fundraiser for the Marquette Challenge in which we would host a wine tasting and education event at the STAR building! The plan is to present some of the ‘health benefits’ of wine as fact/fiction and include some wines that have been particularly identified as providing health benefits. We are also considering having an auction on wine related items as well.